Buddy Pass Saga
 

Why do people do this to their "buddies"?

Family stuck at SLC Airport gets help from ABC 4 viewers - ABC4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Reported by: Val Thompson
Contributor: Emily Clark
Contributor: Dan Metcalf Jr.

Video
Images

Family stuck at SLC Airport gets help from ABC 4 viewers

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A family of four has been stranded in the Salt Lake City International Airport for the past five days.

Curtis Saxton, his wife, and his two children, ages 13 and 4, arrived at the airport on Wednesday night. They have been there ever since, waiting for a JetBlue flight that has enough room for them.

"We just sit and walk around and wait for our flights," said Saxton.

The family is flying with buddy passes, which they get at a huge discount. But the passes do not guarantee them seats. They are only allowed to fly if there is room after all passengers and standby passengers have boarded the plane.

"We've been here for every flight, rolled over for every flight," said Saxton. "We're still at the bottom of that list."

Their patience has run out and so has their money. Airport food is expensive, so they have been living on one meal a day.

"I have been hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!" said Dominic, their four-year-old son. The lack of food is taking its toll on his system. He spent Sunday morning throwing up.

"It broke our heart when he was very sick this morning," said Saxton. "He is normally so bright and energetic."

All four of them are also exhausted. They are sleeping on short metal benches with very little padding. They are getting about two hours of sleep a night, and they say they have been denied pillows and blankets.

"There's a lot of people walking by and staring at you and kind of laughing at you," said Nicole Bennett, Saxton's wife. "It doesn't feel very good."

The family has also been unable to shower since Wednesday.

"You feel gross," said their 13-year-old daughter, Sadee. "It's embarrassing."

JetBlue told ABC4 that there is nothing they can do to get the family on a flight. The airline cannot give away seats that people have paid full price for, to accommodate the family.

Saxton says his relatives don't have enough money to buy full price tickets to get his family back to Virginia. So the family will continue to wait at the airport, until a flight is empty enough to squeeze them on.

A manager with JetBlue says most of their flights this coming week are already full.

Saxton requested donations or any other assistance to help his family get home.
UPDATE (Monday, August 20):

A team of paramedics was called in to examine 4-year-old Dominic. He was given a clean bill of health.

An ABC 4 viewer purchased tickets for the Saxton family, allowing them to leave on Tuesday. Other viewers have offered free lodging, food, and other assistance.

Meanwhile, a Salt Lake International Airport official told ABC 4 that Saxton has refused lodging and food assistance vouchers.

ABC 4 has contacted Saxton, who said he did not need the food vouchers due to generous donors, and that he did not want to leave the airport for fear of losing a chance at standby seats.

Saxton said he would take his family to a motel Monday night and return for their scheduled flight Tuesday morning. The motel stay was donated by United Airlines.

Stay tuned to ABC 4 News and ABC4.com for updates on this story.

So his handout doesn't work out for him and he complains to the media and gets... more handouts?

This guy is an idiot and the people who are giving him things are even bigger idiots. The employee who provided the passes is the biggest idiot of them all though.

A perfect story of someone who was given buddy passes and did not full understand the process. They should have had a back up plan in case this sort of thing happened. I don't have any kids, but does anyone else think this is totally irresponsible parenting?!

Friends don't let friends use buddy passes.

Typical "victimization" approach to life. Sheeesh......

exactly!!!...........

I apply the same philosophy to buddy passes that I do to toilet paper. The savings you get, is no savings at all.

Buddy passes are about as useless as t!ts on a bull, I used to throw them in the garbage when I flew for the airlines a few years ago. Some people just don't get it!

Why is this even news? Give me a break. They voluntarily accepted the risk of flying on a buddy pass, and it didn't work out.

Did the Jetblue buddy pass rider win his lawsuit against Jetblue for having to sit on the toilet?

JetBlue's Jet Blues
Buddy Pass Passenger Takes His Seat on the Toilet

From Arlene Fleming, former About.com Guide

The incident of a passenger who was allegedly forced to sit on a toilet for several hours on a cross-country JetBlue flight is an interesting one. It has had a lot of media play as the affected passenger has decided to sue the airline.

What doesn't seem to get as much play is the fact that the passenger was traveling on a buddy pass - essentially, a standby pass.

Most airlines have pass privileges for employees, and some sort of allotment of passes for non-airline personnel. An airline employee is able to give a pass then to a friend or family member to fly at a very reduced rate, on a standby basis. These standby passes are not always easy to use as seats are only allotted after every revenue passenger is put on the flight, and then the vast majority of airlines start doling out the remaining seats on a seniority basis.

The order is usually employee/partner/spouse, dependents, parents, and then buddy pass travel. So it seems in this incident an employee agreed to take a jump seat so that someone with a much lower priority made it on the flight. It appears too, that if the employee hadn't taken the jump seat, the passenger suing JetBlue would not have made it on the flight at all.

So who is to blame? There are a lot of parties involved.

Should the employee who took the jump seat have been allowed to rescind that offer during the flight because the jump seat wasn't comfortable? Probably not, what isn't as clear is if any laws were broken, or whether it violated JetBlue policy for staff travel.

Is the crew of the flight to blame? I would say the jury is out. In the airline industry in general, the captain often has the last word in scenarios that involve their flights, particularly once it is taken off the bridge and is now in active status. Their plane is is their jurisdiction. This doesn't always mean they'll make the "right" decision, but they have to consider safety standards and make a choice. In this situation, it would be interesting to know whether the captain was clearly aware that said passenger would be relegated to the lavatory for a good portion of the flight.

Should the employee who gave the buddy pass be blamed? It is hard to know whether the employee clearly made the rules of standby travel known to the passenger who used a pass, but certainly an incident of sitting on a toilet for part of a flight was not a possibility that an airline employee would think was even possible.

Should the airline be blamed? If the toilet seating option is one that is not clearly banned by the airline regarding employee standby travel, then perhaps they will need to clarify contingent travel rules for their employees, and their respective buddies.

Should the passenger share in the blame? It's difficult to know exactly what happened. Whether a jump seat might have been offered, or whether a seat was secured for the essential take-off and landing periods.

I do think that suing for a huge amount of money is a bit off base when traveling on a buddy pass. I am not condoning the treatment of the passenger, but honestly when I travel on an employee pass I usually feel grateful to get a seat. I know that until the door of that aircraft closes, we've pushed from the gate, and are airborne, that my seat could be taken away for a revenue passenger, or someone with a higher staff travel priority than me.

Those on buddy passes don't often understand this part of pass travel - that your seat is not guaranteed, that you simply are not always afforded the same treatment of a paying passenger. Granted, it being a seat on the toilet is shocking, and the safety issue of it is what needs to be the focus.

I suppose I would feel the multimillion dollar suit would be justified if this was a regular, revenue passenger, but having used employee travel passes for well over a dozen years, I don't know if that kind of monetary compensation is warranted.

Buddy Pass Saga
 

Enemy passes.

"JetBlue continues to remain silent on allegations made by passenger Gokhan Mutlu that he was reportedly forced to cede his seat to a flight attendant and was told by the plane’s pilot to “go hang out in the bathroom.” The infuriated passenger’s story appeared in newspapers around the world, with an especially detailed report in the Guardian. Mutlu has filed a $2 million lawsuit against the American carrier, for allegedly having to spend more than three hours sitting on the toilet, without a seatbelt, even during turbulence. Multi described his alleged ordeal as “extreme humiliation” and “tremendous fear.”

JetBlue allowed Mutlu to board a flight that had been completely booked and a flight attendant had decided to give him her seat, instead agreeing to sit on a jump seat. Yet an hour and a half into a five hour flight from San Diego to New York City, the flight attendant allegedly became uncomfortable and Mutlu was told that he would have to give up his place. When the passenger asked where he should go, he was allegedly pointed in the direction of the washroom.

Mutlu’s lawsuit also claims that JetBlue’s pilot then came out and confirmed that the passenger was to “hang out” in the toilet and that he should simply be “grateful to be onboard.” The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, goes on to claim that JetBlue contravened federal laws by leaving Mutlu in the washroom, without a seatbelt, during turbulence. Only after allegedly spending several hours in the washroom, was Mutlu finally permitted to return to his seat. "

Yep, morons. I wouldn't wish a buddy pass on my worst enemy... I've had friends ask for them, and I just won't do it. They complete understand when I explain why... Hell, I hate having my own Mom ride on my pass, it's stressful as hell.

I bet this employee's pass privileges have all been revoked now. What an ******* of a friend to go back and sue.

I would be worried if I was the JetBlue employee issuing the buddy passes in both cases. From the kind of attitude expressed you would have thought that they bought the buddy passes on craigslist or something. In both cases it is a PR nightmare. (Only giving the kid 1 meal per day for 4 days because they cannot afford food?)

Am I a bad person if I don't feel bad for them at all? They took the risk of travelling on a heavily discounted ticket. You can't go back and complain that there's no space for you on board.

I'll also bet that in a situation like this, they insisted on travelling as a group of 4. Use some common sense, either buy a ticket or visit greyhound.com

I don't feel bad for them one bit. In fact, I'd like to join in with the mentioned fellow travelers and laugh at them.

On a related note, buddy pass kitty just saw the door close without him.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17vk...gif/medium.gif

Way to go providing a BP to a non-hub destination....Tool!.

Baja.

I nominate Curtis Saxton, and his wife as "TOOLS OF THE DAY". Further, I nominate them for the Charles Darwin Award too.

Calling these two stupid is an insult to those who are just plain stupid.

I also nominate the animated TV reporter, who wasted Mommy and Daddy's hard money on college, as BONE HEAD OF THE DAY, for not bringing to light the terms and conditions of the evil "Buddy Pass".

I'm praying for those two kids.

I fear for their future.

And would like to know the deal with the employee.

Excellent drawing DogWhisperer.

Child abuse at least. And I'm betting even if they'd had DAL buddy passes they'd still be there. You can't fix stupid.

Way back in the '80's, way before 9/11, 'walking' was common on many int'l flights (especially around xmas). I know a family of 5 who boarded a flight MAD-MIA (won't name airline), with small kids, who were GLAD of the chance to to travel (toilet, jumpseat, or...walking). Impossible now, but people did it, to travel, regardless of a few hours discomfort..you did what you had to do! (dirty little secret?) What's a few hours on a toilet seat, IF YA GET THERE! Sam

What he said

Load factors being what they are anymore I wouldnt be opposed to trading out the buddy pass system for 2pos.space tickets a year. Or increased compensation. On cross country travel im often finding full fares at $100 over non-rev fare. Other than commuting its almost gotten worthless.

Nice drawing, dog! I have spent plenty of time in 'Camp Non-Rev'.

I must be a heinous person because I don't feel bad for either of these people. The kids, sure, since they had no choice, but the adults? Nuh-uh.

These stories are ridiculous. It's free/drastically reduced air travel. You can't complain and try to elicit pity from complete strangers because YOU decided to take your whole family non-revving without a backup plan. If this had to make the newspapers, it should have at least highlighted how much of an idiot this person is.

Also, there have been times when I would have taken the lav seat (ick) just to get back home. That dude is a complete tool.

That said, the feeling when the aircraft pushes back without you...

http://i.imgur.com/nu8Q0.gif

I'm sure it wasn't mentioned in the story, but I'd be willing to bet that none of them wanted to split up. I'm sure they insisted on traveling together.

Does JetBlue have a dress code for non-rev travelers?

Lol... I don't think anyone does anymore. I keep seeing pilots with their kids in jeans and baseball caps.

I remember when I was a kid non-revving. We had to wear khakis/chinos and a collared shirt or you weren't getting on.

Wish it was still that way

JetBlue employees have a hard enough time getting anywhere out of SLC. Probably the most difficult airport in the entire system. The reservation folks out there have a sweetheart of a deal (thanks to Neeleman) that gives them great priority on the seats. Due to the large Mormon population you will often see a family listed for nonrev with 6+ in their party.

Why would reservation employees have higher priority than other employees?
And my question on dress code was from watching the TV clip where they buddy pass traveler was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

Surprised the airlines don't use indemnification clauses in their non-rev policies. Easy enough to put into policy the concept that the employee and / or the buddy pass rider are jointly and individually responsible to reimburse the airline for any expense associated with the defense of the Company for any action brought by, or as a direct result, of the pass rider.

With this policy, if the pass rider sues, the airline tenders the lawsuit right back to the pass rider and his friend demanding they hire Counsel, defend the airline and pay the costs including that of any judgement the pass rider might be successful in obtaining. This would could be broadly worded to include the cost of any advertising injury, slander or libel.

Put the responsibility right back where it belongs.

1. Rent car
2. Drive home

If you can't afford to put your family up in even a Motel 6 for a few nights, maybe you shouldn't be traveling. Non-rev or full fare doesn't matter.

We still dress business casual when nonreving.

Me too. I think all airline gate agents should enforce that.

There's nothing wrong with a pair of nice jeans or even shorts in the summer. But flip flops, sweatpants and cutoffs, I mean really? And in first? Although if you can fill first, even international, with small children then who cares at that point anyway.

1. What does the Jet Blue pilot working agreement have to say with regards to buddy passes? Oh, that's right, there isn't one.

2. For all of you (us) that do have a contract: At what point do we demand something in return for this negotiated benefit that has slowly been bled from our side of the compensation ledger?

In both cases, we are are own worst enemy.

Curtis Saxton is just an individual moron who has highlighted it.

PIPE

The biggest problem was the person who gave this family the buddy passes, without explaining how a buddy pass works and what kind of seat availability there was for the airport he wanted to travel to.

I still work in aviation, though not at an airline. I have a friend who does work for an airline and am happy that he will allow me to use some of his buddy passes. But we check the passenger loads very carefully for my planned itinerary, and I plan travel dates accordingly.